[psilocybin]the magic mushroom growers guide-erowid psilocybin mushroom vaults 3.2 org

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rowid Psilocybin Mushroom Vaults : The Magic Mushroom Growers Guide

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The Magic Mushroom Growers Guide

Version 3.2

Updated 10-02-96

his document may be freely copied and distributed so long as the following conditions are m

q Any copies of this document must include this notice.q This document must only be distributed in an unaltered and complete form.q

This document can not be distributed for profit.

his document provides complete directions for cultivating psilocybin mushrooms in your homhe strain this guide is intended to help you grow is Psilocybe cubensis (Amazonian strain)ushrooms. It is the intent of this document to enable the first time grower to succeed at ainimal cost and with a minimal amount of effort. This growing guide is the only reference yoll need. After a person has completed the entire cycle successfully, later generations of

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ushrooms can be grown with even less cost and effort. The initial cash outlay will be well un00 for a fully automated shroom factory. Subsequent crops can be produced for several

ollars with expected yields of several ounces of dried mushrooms.

able of contents:

q What has changed since version 3.1

q Credits to those who have gone before us.

q Structure of this Document.

q Overview of Procedure and Care.

q Preparation and Colonization of the Substrate.

q Preparation of the Terrarium.

q The Growing Cycle.

q Drying and Preservation of Mushrooms.

q Dosage and Various Ways to Ingest.

q Obtaining Suitable Spores.q The Author's First Trip.

q Bulk Substrate Growing.

q Where to find hard to get stuff

q How to get help and offer suggestions for improvements.

q Index of Adaptations

What has changed since version 3.1

ollowing is a list of changes made to the document.

q Version number was changed from 3.1 to 3.2q Change pictures in opening.q Suggest ways to get help and provide PGP public key for private messagesq Poor Man's terrarium setup.q Bulk growing.q Cris Clays email address and such.q Link to http://www.xs4all.nl/~psee/ as a spore seller.q No more packing of the substrate.q Vacuum cleaner instead of hair dryer.



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q Link to PF's pages.q Timer stuff.q Arrowhead Mills no longer sells brown rice flour as a mail order item.q Caution about jars sitting flat in boiling pan.q Low humidity cap apperanceq Sealing a cake in a jar to reduce contamination risk when growing for spores.q Changing plates after start of spore print for lower contamination risk.

Credits to those who have gone before us.

he procedures detailed in this document borrow heavily from past innovators. In particular,uch research was done by a company in Seattle Washington called Psylocybe Fanaticushich was instrumental to the viability of this innovative and elegant procedure for the noviceultivator.

sylocybe Fanaticus sold a Technology Report called the PF Tek. . Normally, growing Psilocyushrooms is next to impossible for a beginner. However, the PF process is a break throughnd virtually guarantees that the beginner will succeed.

he PF Tek is the foundation for this document. The main purpose for this document is to dete various ways the PF Tek can be adapted to various needs of the home cultivator.

Note: Psylocybe Fanaticus is no longer in business]. Please treat this document as youould 'shareware software'. Try it out, and if it works for you, send $10 and a thank you note

Psylocybe Fanaticus1202 E. Pike #783

Seattle, Wa. 98122

ack to table of contents.



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Format of this Document.

How to use this document.

he procedures detailed in this document are a mixture of mandatory and optional steps. Theore document describes the basic procedure in its simplest form and at various points there e possible adaptations that can be incorporated. In general, the adaptations will summarizehat is required and the benefit to the cultivator in the event the adaptation is implemented. Yhould read the entire document before you attempt to implement the procedures described i

he first time you use the process you should follow the directions exactly and resist tmptation to innovate. Innovation without experience is the primary cause of failure. If

ou must innovate because you can not find a particular item or for some other reasonst check with someone that has experience to make sure you are not doing somethinazy.

s our intent to provide the first time cultivator with the knowledge to make informed decisionbout the growing process for Magic Mushrooms. The cultivator can select some adaptationsat are felt to be worthwhile and reject others that don't have sufficient merit for him. It's his

hoice, but he is still guaranteed that if he follows the directions he will produce a crop ofushrooms.

his guide is published as a single document to make printing easy and simplify acquiring a cyour local machine. There are several GIF files that it references in the directory that youund this document. You need these also. You might want to check and see if there is a file

alled mmgg.zip or mmgg.tar in the directory you found this document. If so, you can just get

ne file and it will contain everything you need to obtain a local copy.

you wish to examine an adaptation, simply click on it. When you're done looking at it, there e two links. One back to the table of contents and one back to where the adaptation is used

e procedure.

ne last note. A terrarium is required to complete the growing cycle. You can perform the steinoculate the culture jars and over the next few weeks build your terrarium. It takes time fore cultures to grow and this should provide you sufficient time to make a suitable terrarium if

ou are in a hurry to get started.


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Overview of the Procedure.

order to grow mushrooms, a suitable substrate must be inoculated and colonized by thengus. This step requires sterility because the substrate contains no preservatives and can bverrun by any mold or bacteria that is present. This first step takes place in canning jarsepared in your home's kitchen. It uses brown rice flour and vermiculite which are both readi

vailable. A substrate is prepared, placed in the canning jars and sterilized with heat. After thrs cool, they are inoculated with a spore syringe. This phase of the cycle can be completed ss than $25 and will produce enough substrate to yield many ounces of dried mushrooms.

ter the substrate is inoculated, you wait until it is colonized completely by the fungus. Once ubstrate is colonized completely by the fungus, sterility is less of a concern because the fungpretty much able to fight off invaders and the rice cake substrate can be removed from the

his typically takes between two and three weeks to complete. At this point, the substrate isaced in a terrarium where high humidity is available to the fungus. While waiting for theubstrate to colonize completely, no effort is required.

he terrarium is kept at around 90% humidity and the carbon dioxide that is produced by the

ngus is constantly eliminated. Within a week of being placed in the terrarium, the rice cakesll start growing mushrooms. Within several weeks of being placed in the terrarium, theultivator will have numerous mature mushrooms ready for consumption. The cakes continueoduce mushrooms until either the nutrients in the rice cake are used up or the moisture in th

ce cake is depleted. Depending on how the cultivator chooses to implement the terrarium, mless attention is required at this phase in the cycle. With the fully automated terrarium setu

escribed later in this document, attention is only required every few days. Mostly, this involvecking mature mushrooms and adding water to the humidifier used in the setup.

s very likely that the mushrooms will be produced faster than they can be consumed by theome cultivator once the cropping phase of the cycle starts. It is fairly easy to dry theushrooms and preserve them for many months. In fact, some people prefer the driedushrooms to their fresh counterpart. Being the master of understatement, let me state that t

o not taste as good as mushrooms available in the grocery store.

ccasionally, a sterile spore print from a mature mushroom needs to be generated if the cyclcontinue. This is used to produce a spore syringe to inoculate new culture jars. It is a little beffort and requires very careful, sterile procedures to be successful generating a spore prin



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f course, this can be circumvented by simply ordering a new spore syringe. A 10 cc. sporeyringe should be sufficient to inoculate a dozen jars of substrate. It is the cultivator's choicehich path to follow for successive generations.


Preparation of the Substrate.

ushrooms are grown on a substrate of nutrients. Just as a common house plant is grown in ot of soil, mushrooms can be grown on a cake of substrate material. The big difference is tha

e substrate must be free of competing bacteria and molds in order for the process to beuccessful. Any contamination of the substrate will result in failure of the process.

aterials needed:

q 1/2 pint canning jars Adaptation-1

q Vermiculite (from any garden department. K-Mart, Target, etc.) Where to find

q Brown Rice flour Adaptation-22 (from a health food store --- No Preservatives!) Where

find

q Large pot with lid Adaptation-2q Measuring cupsq Mixing bowlq Hammer and small nailq Spore Syringe (Where to get a spore syringe)

he canning jars need to be tapered. This means that the opening of the jar is wider than theody of the jar. This is important because the fully colonized rice cake needs to be removedtact from the jar. You simply want the cake to slide out when the time is right. If you use a ja

at is not in the following list, check to make sure the box says it is a tapered jar. The followinrs are acceptable:

q Ball 1/2 pint jelly jars.q Kerr wide mouth 1/2 pint canning jars.q Ball regular mouth 1/2 pint canning jars.

ep 1:



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repare the tops of the culture jars so that they can be in place, on the jars when inoculating rs with the spore syringe. Part of the reason this system works so well in the non-sterile kitcnvironment is the fact that the sterilized substrate is never exposed to air born contaminateset a small nail and use the hammer to poke 4 holes in the lid of each canning jar. See thelowing figure:

ep 2:ecide in how many jars you are going to initiate cultures. The average terrarium that is built old 6 rice cakes but you may have some jars destroyed by contamination and some jarsolonize quicker than others. It is unlikely that every jar you prepare will be ready to be placede terrarium at the same time. The rice flour and vermiculite are cheap enough that it makes

ense to do a dozen jars.

or each 1/2 pint jar mix 2/3 cup vermiculite and 1/4 cup brown rice flour in a mixing bowl.daptation-23 When these ingredients are well mixed, add 1/4 cup of water for each 1/2 pint

ou plan to prepare. If you are using 1 pint jars you need to double the recipe. Mix all of this sp well. This mixture is the substrate material that the fungus will consume and use for growth

ep 3:he next step is to fill each jar with substrate material. Adaptation-20 This document used to

uggest gently packing the substrate into the culture jars. It has been found that keeping theubstrate as loose and full of air as possible is the best way to fill the jars. The jars will colonizster this way. Incidentally, the faster the jar colonizes, the lower the risk that some competit

ontamination will get a foot hold and take over the substrate. Adaptation-3 Fill each jar to wit

2 inch of the top with substrate material. If you run out of substrate material, either mix upnough for one more 1/2 pint jar or cannibalize a jar to fill up the rest of the jars. This is imporecause you need to make sure the substrate is high enough in the jars for the spore syringe



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ect spores into it.

ep 4:he top 1/2 inch of the glass on each culture jar needs to be cleaned. No substrate material ce left on the glass above the compressed cake. First wipe it with your finger to get the bulk oe material off of it and then do a thorough job with a moistened paper towel. The glass need

be spotless. The reason this is necessary is that bacteria and mold can use any material leere as a wick to infect the main substrate body.

ep 5:ext, fill the top 1/2 inch of the each culture jar with vermiculite. This layer is pure, simple, dryermiculite. Nothing else. Fill the jar level with the glass edge. This layer is a break throughoneered by Psylocybe Fanaticus. What this layer does is insulate the sterilized substrate frony air borne contamination. This layer gets sterilized with the substrate later and air borneolds and bacteria can not (usually) get through it to contaminate the substrate. At the same

me, it allows some gas exchange to occur. The fungus needs oxygen and gasses can filterrough the vermiculite.

ep 6:ow, place the jar lids in place. Normally, the jar lids have a rubber seal that is placed in contth the glass of the jar. Traditionally the rubber seal is not placed in contact with the glass. Itas placed on the upper side of the lid. The reason was that people thought it would make toght of a seal. This does not seem to be an issue. If you wish to follow tradition, place the rubn the upper side of the lid. Screw the lid down tight. Note that you need to have the four holeoked in the lid in Step 1. Otherwise you can have real problems when you heat these jars up

ep 7:ext, place a piece of tin foil over the top of each jar and crumple it around the sides of the jahis is to keep water drops from going in the four holes in the lid while the jar is being sterilizeyou poked your holes in the lid such that the sharp edges are pointing up, be careful not to puncture the tin foil. If you need to, you can add a second or even a third piece of tin foil to

ake sure water will not drip into the holes in the lid.

ep 8:

ow the culture jars need to be sterilized. Place the jars in a large kitchen pot/pan and add wo that water comes half way up the side of the jars. Bring the water to a slow boil and place t on the pot. From the time the water starts to boil, the jars need 1 hour to be sterilized. Wat

hould not be bubbling and splashing all over the place. The jars should not be floating aroune water. The substrate in the culture jars has the right amount of water in it already. You doant water leaking into the jars and changing the ratio. The jars should not sit flat on the bottothe pan. Too much heat can transfer directly to the jars and cause a loss of moisture. You

ace a wash cloth inside the pan and set the jars directly on the wash cloth to help prevent touch heat from transferring to the jars.



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ep 9:et the jars cool slowly. Leave them covered in the pot/pan that was used to sterilize them. Leem cool completely. The jars need to be at or close to room temperature in order to inoculahe spores will be killed if the jars are not cool enough when they are inoculated. It will takeeveral hours to cool sufficiently. You may hear sounds as the jars cool. This is normal.

ep 10:ow comes the good part. Inoculation of the culture jars. Assuming you have a viable, sterilepore syringe, you are now in a position to inoculate the cultures and start the first phase of thowing cycle. The needle of the spore syringe must be sterile. If your fingers or anything othan the lid or contents of the culture jars comes in contact with it, assume it is no longer sterthere is any doubt about its condition, use a cigarette lighter to heat the entire needle. Heatntil it glows red. Let it cool for a few minutes and squirt some of the solution out of the syring

hake the syringe. Make sure the spores are mixed well within the syringe. This can be

ccomplished more easily if you pull the plunger back on the syringe to get a little air into theringe.

emove the tin foil from each culture jar as you prepare to inoculate it. Insert the needle of thyringe as far as it will go into a hole in the lid of the culture jar and get the needle to pressgainst the glass. Examine the next figure for a simple diagram of how things should look. Inj4 cc of solution at a site under each hole in the lid. Adaptation-4 A total of 1 cc of solution fo

ach jar. Adaptation-5



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10 cc spore syringe is sufficient to inoculate a dozen jars if you inject slightly less than 1 cc ach jar.

ep 11:his is the easy part. Put the culture jars in a dark place and wait. The fungus will first appear

tle splotches of white fuzzy stuff at the inoculation sites. Adaptation-6



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s the time goes by, the fungus will spread throughout the jar. Eventually, the entire surface oe glass will be covered with fungus. Typically, the bottom of the jar is the last area to be

olonized. Be on the look out for any contamination.

ny odd colors that might appear are contamination and the jar must be thrown out. Do not tany chances. If you think the jar might be contaminated, throw it out!. Some molds and bacteroduce toxins that can kill you. Just because a mushroom is growing on the opposite side of

ake from the contamination does not mean you are safe. The mycelium network carriesutrients and moisture to the mushrooms from far away and can easily pick up the toxins anding them to the mushroom. The fact that you are using this guide means you are not an

xperienced mycologist. You do not know which molds and bacteria are deadly. Do not take ahance.

he one exception to the previous statements is the mycelium will some times change from aight white to a very pale yellow if it has water droplets touching it on the side of the glass. It

ery unusual for any area that is colonized by the mushroom fungus to become infected whilee jar. The uncolonized areas of the substrate are usually significantly more prone to infectio

he above pictures show a typical germination and colonization cycle. If your spores are old, e temperature is not optimum, or you did not mix the substrate very accurately you can easdd a week to the above time frames.

he cake must stay in the jar until the entire surface area is covered with mycelium. As theubstrate gets more colonized, the growth slows down. This is a result of CO2 building up anss oxygen being available for the fungus to consume. Adaptation-7

he cakes can not be taken out of the jars while there is still uncolonized substrate. Adaptatio



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ep 12:nce a rice cake is fully colonized, it can be taken out of the culture jar. Adaptation-9 At this

oint, there are no areas on the substrate that can easily be infected by competitor molds andacteria. Once the mycelium is established, it can usually prevent other organisms from gainifoot hold and destroying the rice cake.

daptation-10 Unscrew and remove the lid from the canning jars. Scrape all the loose

ermiculite on the top of the substrate into the garbage. Take care not to gouge into theubstrate material as this can leave areas open to infection. You do not need to get all theermiculite off of the cake. In fact, the only reason to remove any of it is to keep the terrariumeat and orderly. Turn the jar up side down and slam it onto a table top. The rice cake shouldde out of the jar. The rice cakes will typically shrink a little during the colonization phase of tocess and will come out of the jars easily with a little tapping on a table top.

ep 13:

he rice cakes need to be placed into the terrarium. It is assumed that you have a fully functiond checked out terrarium setup at this point. This document contains all the information youeed to prepare a terrarium. Preparation of the terrarium.

ou can handle the cakes but remember that the less you handle them and the more gently yandle them, the better off they will be. Also, you should wash your hands thoroughly and bere to rinse with water just as thoroughly to remove any soap before touching the cakes.

you have disposable sterile gloves available, it isn't a bad idea to use them. You can get aw

thout using them, but they are a good idea. Contamination is the mycophile's worst enemy.


he Growing Cycle.

onstruction of the Terrarium.

Construction of the Terrarium.

he main purpose of the terrarium is to provide the high humidity required for mushroomevelopment. The rice cakes will live inside the terrarium during the cropping phase of theowing cycle.



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here are four different setups described in this document. The first one is a very simple,nimal terrarium that works well, but can only handle one rice cake. The second two are bas

n work done by Psylocybe Fanaticus. They will hold more cakes than the first terrarium, butey still require attention several times a day.

encourage you to choose the last option. This one uses the same growing chamber assylocbye Fanaticus developed but an ultra-sonic humidifier is introduced to keep humidity up

quires very limited maintenance and works very well.

he first terrarium, the "Poor Man's Terrariu" requires no humidification. It relies on a very smolume of air and the fact the terrarium is sealed very tightly from the outside environment.

l of the last three of the terrarium setups require the same growing chamber. The differencee strategy for keeping the humidity high inside of the growing chamber. If you want, you canart with one of the simpler versions and switch to a different setup later if you are unhappy wNote that if you start with the ultra-sonic humidifier version, we don't expect that you will wa

switch to one of the other two.

Poor Man's Terrarium.

aterials needed:

q 2 liter plastic coke bottleq razor knife

his terrarium is made by cutting a section out of a 2 liter coke bottle. This serves two purposrst, it allows you to put a fully colonized rice cake inside the bottle. The second purpose is itows the volume of the bottle to be reduced to the point where the moistness of the rice cak

an keep it humid.

emove a section of the bottle using the razor knife. The cut on the lower part of the bottle is

ery critical. The top cut is more difficult to do correctly. It needs to be right at the point whereottle is starting to decrease in diameter. This is because the top part of the bottle is going to serted into the bottom part of the bottle and the two sections need to seal tightly.

he best thing to do is start lower than the diagram indicates and cut small sections off until thp piece of the bottle fits snugly and easily into the bottom section. Once you locate the correace to cut for the type of bottle you are using, you can simply cut at the same place and maultiple bottles to handle as many cakes as you wish to fruit at any time.



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he cap for the bottle must be screwed on tightly. A damp paper towel can be placed on theottom of the bottle to help raise the humidity inside the bottle. Twice a day the bottle should pened to allow new air to be available for the rice cake to consume. It is best to fan the riceake to insure new air is surrounding the cake before sealing it back in the bottle. This is theajor draw back to this terrarium. If you have a dozen cakes it can become a burden to

xchange the air twice a day.

Basic Growing Chamber.

(Used for all other terrarium setups)

aterials needed:

q Styrofoam Cooler Adaptation-11q Wire Mesh (1/4 or 1/2 inch is ideal)q Plexi Glass (a 24 by 24 inch piece of window insulation or fluorescent light diffuser)

Optional if using an ultra sonic humidifier.q Silicon Glueq Humidity Gauge Adaptation-12

he cooler needs to have a very tight fitting cover. The idea is to seal in humidity, and the looe lid is, the more difficult this is. Except for the cooler, everything you need can be found at

our neighborhood building supply store. Below are diagrams detailing the various componenthe terrarium. There is no way to predict the dimensions of the cooler that you will use. Youll need to use some common sense as we walk you through the steps to build your terrarium



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he purpose of the wire mesh is to hold the rice cakes off the bottom of the cooler whereoisture will collect. The easiest thing to do is cut a piece of wire mesh an inch wider and anch longer than the dimensions of the bottom of the cooler. Then, use a pair of pliers to bend2 inch ridge all the way around the piece of wire mesh. The piece of mesh will be held up bye bent ridge. Often times, when mushrooms are growing, space above them is at a premiumy not to raise the wire mesh more than a 1/2 inch above the bottom of the cooler. Doing thamply wastes valuable space.

ext, if you are going to use the hand sprayer method of adding humidity, a drip shield needse installed. If you are using a fish tank bubblier or an ultra sonic humidifier, it is optional but sgood idea. As moisture condenses inside the terrarium, this protects the rice cakes from be

ained' upon. Any moisture that forms on the lid of the cooler can drip and will be stopped by ip shield from hitting the rice cakes. Any moisture that forms on the bottom side of the drip

hield will form beads and run down to the side of the terrarium where it can drip harmlessly. ou use a piece of plexi-glass that is textured on one side, put the textured side pointing up. Yant a smooth surface on the bottom side of the drip shield so that moisture can easily run do



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the side of the terrarium.

he drip shield is held up by several bolts sticking through the side of the cooler. Depending ohat size canning jars you use and the height of your wire mesh, you will need to figure outhere to put them. You want the drip shield to be at as steep of angle as possible to make wan down it easily, but you want it high enough that your mushrooms have room to grow withouching the drip shield. The drip shield needs to fit well. You need a small gap on the edges

t air circulate, but keep it small. About 1/4 inch is good. In other words, the drip shield shouletty well to the inside of the cooler, but it is not supposed to be air tight. Also remember wh

haping the drip shield that you can not go to the very top of the cooler because the lid willcess into the cooler a little ways.

you are using a Styrofoam cooler, you should use washers on the bolts on both the inside autside of the cooler. This will allow you to tighten the nuts on the bolts snugly to keep the boom tearing up the cooler as you move the drip shield during normal maintenance.

ext, the top of the cooler needs to be modified to allow light to enter the terrarium. Psilocybeubensis is a phototropic mushroom. It needs light to initiate pinning and to tell the mushroomhich way is up. You should have some plexi-glass left over from the drip shield that can besed for this purpose. Cut a hole in the top of cooler. Cut a piece of plexi-glass a little bit biggan the hole in the cooler lid. Run a bead of silicon glue all the way around the hole in the cop. Position the plexi-glass over the hole and let the glue setup. See the following diagram:

hat is it. The basic grow chamber is done. Now you need to decide which method you areoing to use to keep the humidity high and the CO2 concentration low while the mushrooms aowing.



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Method 1: Hand Spraying.

his is the original method that Psylocybe Fanaticus recommended for the home cultivator toow mushrooms. It is the least expensive. It is the most labor intensive and forces you to

onform to a demanding schedule. The only thing you need in addition to the basic growing

hamber is a spray bottle that can put out a fine mist.

he procedure is this: At least four times a day the terrarium needs to have humidity injected via the spray bottle. At least twice a day the CO2 that has built up needs to be eliminated.nce a day you need to eliminate water from the bottom of the terrarium that has condensednd formed there.

nce a day, you need to remove the standing water from the bottom of the terrarium. You case a turkey baster to suck the water out, or you can gently remove each cake and turn the

rrarium up side down to drain the water out. If you remove the cakes, be very gentle. Any pou touch the cakes will not fruit. You should pick up the cakes in the same place every time.

wice a day, the CO2 that has accumulated in the chamber needs to be removed. One methoto remove the drip shield and fan the inside of the cooler with the cover for 10 or 15 second

nother method that works well is to have a hair dryer next to the cooler and use it. Simply lonto the terrarium with the exhaust jet pointing up and out of the terrarium and turn it on. It w

uck all the existing CO2 out of the chamber. Be sure not to hit the rice cakes with the hotxhaust air. It will damage them. If your hair dryer has a 'cool' setting, use that instead of 'hot'

cidentally, one cultivator recommends using a vacuum clean instead. He would simply sucke stale air out of the terrarium.

order to create humidity in the terrarium a spray bottle that is capable of generating a fine mused. There are a lot of different products for use in the kitchen that have an adjustable spr

ozzle, but if you choose to recycle one of these, make sure it produces a very fine mist. Whaver you use, make sure it is entirely clean of the original chemicals. Let's make this perfectlyear. Make sure the bottle is clean and does not contain anything that will damage the funguhe safest thing to do is go to the hardware store and buy a high quality spray bottle. Thesepically produce a finer mist than most kitchen type spray bottles. The problem is that you woot be using a spray bottle if you had a little extra cash so we are telling you that you can use tchen spray bottle if you are careful. In order to create the necessary humid environment in rrarium, the nozzle is slipped under the cover of the cooler and sprayed at the center of thede of the drip shield. See the following diagram:



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ter spraying for 5 seconds, pull the spray nozzle out of the cooler and let the lid quickly closealing in the vapor. The small water drops will dramatically raise the humidity of the chambehe rice cakes can not ever be sprayed directly. The mycelium is very fragile and doing that wamage it. The terrarium needs to be sprayed at least 4 times a day. More is better.

his setup and procedure will work and is very inexpensive, but that is the only good I have toay about it. You become a slave to your terrarium. If you miss a couple sessions, your fungull most definitely suffer because of it. Also, you can only support a few growing mushroomstime using this procedure. The mushrooms pull a lot of humidity out of the air and this meth

oesn't provide much excess.

Method 2: Using a Fish Tank Bubblier.

he basic portion of this system was originally pioneered by Psylocybe Fanaticus There are

everal improvements and adaptations in this section that were not included in the originalethod. The idea is to create humidity by bubbling air through water. A small fish tank air pumnd bubbling stone are used to accomplish this.

his method is inexpensive and allows the terrarium to exist without your constant attention. Iajor limitation is that depending on how it is implemented, it can only raise the humidity by 1ver ambient. The minimum acceptable amount of humidity needed by the fungus is 85%. Ifmbient humidity is going to be less than 70% during the growing cycle, you will experienceoblems even with a fully optimized setup. If you have more than a few mushrooms growing



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possible this system will fail to keep the humidity high enough. You still need to hand sprayrrarium occasionally to boost the humidity above what the bubblier can do. Several times a sufficient.

l of the materials needed can be obtained at any pet store or pet department in a departmeore.

Materials needed:q suitable container for waterq Fish Tank Bubblierq 3 feet of 1/4 inch air line for fish tanksq bubblier stoneq optional submersible 50 watt fish tank heater Adaptation-13

q optional Angel Hair or plastic steel wool Adaptation-14

he basic strategy is to place a container of water inside the terrarium and slowly bubble air

rough the water. A hole should be cut in the drip shield to allow the container to stick uprough it. The top of the container should be above the drip shield to protect the fungus fromater droplets that will get produced. There are several ways the system can be implementede air pump is setup outside the terrarium with just an air line going into the terrarium, theumidity will be raised less than 10% over ambient. The one benefit to this setup is the fact thr is constantly being exchanged and the home cultivator does not need to eliminate CO2 evay. A small hole can be put at the base of the terrarium to let CO2 and water escape. The hohould be just big enough that water does not bead up and plug the hole. A 3/8 inch hole willccomplish this nicely. Note that a small, snug hole needs to be drilled in the side of the coole

ow the air line to get inside the cooler. You can not just loop it over the side of the cooler anam the lid on it. You will not get enough humidity if the lid does not fit tightly. See the followiagram:

second method to implement this strategy is to put the air pump inside the terrarium. This we same air is constantly recirculated, constantly increasing its humidity. This can increase th



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umidity to close to 15% over ambient. This implementation has several disadvantages. Firste key to getting the higher humidity is recirculation of the same air over and over again. Thieans no hole can be placed at the bottom of the terrarium to allow water and CO2 to escapou will need to eliminate CO2 at least once a day. The second disadvantage is the fact that r pump generates some heat and can warm the terrarium by over 10 degrees F. This may oay not be acceptable. One point needs to be noted. The air pump will create some vibrationbest to suspend the air pump from a rubber band to absorb this vibration. A stiff piece of co

anger wire can be suspended from one side of the terrarium to the other and the air pump hom it. Instead of the air tube going through the side of the terrarium, the power cord for theump goes through the side. Also note that the positioning of the stiff wire to hold the air pumot critical. It may be better to rotate it 90 degrees from what is shown in the following diagramo that it is easier to remove the drip shield when servicing the terrarium. Also, the power cordnd air tube should have some slack in them so that are not being pulled on as the pumpbrates. The ideal scenario is to tie wrap them to the supporting wire. See the following diagr

Method 3: Using an Ultra Sonic Humidifier.

his is the best method. It will free you from the tyranny of your terrarium. It will effortlessly

oduce enough humidity to support as many mushrooms as you can grow at once. This setull automatically eliminate CO2 buildup before it occurs. The only draw back is that ultra soni

umidifiers cost around $40. A little more for a super nice one, a little less for a budget versioust about any ultra sonic humidifier will work.

steam humidifier is not easy to integrate into this terrarium setup. First, the vapor it emits isot and will kill the fungus. The second reason is they typically run full blast. They do not haveontrol to throttle them way back like the ultra sonic humidifiers do.



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Materials needed:q Ultra Sonic Humidifier Where to find

q 8 feet of 7/16 inch outer diameter, 5/16 inch inner diameter vinyl tubeq 1 dozen 3/8 inch inner diameter grommetsq 4 clear 2 liter coke bottlesq 3/8 inch, fine thread boltq tube of silicon glueq pliers

rst, a small hole needs to be placed in the Basic Growing Chamber to let water and CO2scape. It should be at the very bottom of the cooler. It needs to be big enough that water wilot bead up and plug it. 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch is good.

his setup uses the ultra sonic humidifier to produce air that is close to 100% in humidity. Theow out of the humidifier is limited by the fact that it has to travel through the 7/16 inch vinyl

bing. That is OK, because we want to limit the amount of air we feed into the terrarium. Theumidifier will generate very humid air, but the air will also have many suspended water particit. Any time one of these water particles touches another water drop, they will merge. We d

ant moisture forming on the rice cakes, so limiting the number of suspended water drops weow into the terrarium is a big step towards this goal.

ven so, the air must be dried further. Adaptation-21 The air is passed through several stage

here it is allowed to swirl and condense. Each one of these stages is comprised of an emptyer coke bottle or some other suitable container. These stages are connected together using

16 inch vinyl tubing.

very time a piece of vinyl tubing is used, it needs to be fluted. This means it is not cut offquare, but rather at a very sharp angle. This is necessary to help moisture that condensesside the line to drip out once it reaches the end of the line. Otherwise, it will form a big dropnd eventually plug up the line. At that point you have no humidity entering the terrarium.

rill a 7/16 inch hole in the center of the exhaust lid for the humidifier. Insert a grommet. Applead of silicon glue to the slit through which vapor normally exits. You want to plug this slit up

he only exit for vapor should be through a piece of vinyl tubing that will be placed inside thisommet.

emove the labels on the coke bottles. Any large plastic container can be used but the 2 literoke bottles are real nice because they allow you to see inside. Adaptation-24 This is useful t

etermine if the terrarium is running correctly later. Also, you will be able to see if moisture thas collected in the bottle needs to be emptied out of it.

eat up the threads on the 3/8 inch bolt using a propane touch or burner on a gas stove. A



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garette lighter will work, but it will take a long time. Hold onto the bolt with the pliers. When tolt is hot, quickly and neatly poke two holes in each 2 liter coke bottle. Adaptation-15 See th

llowing diagram for details:

he bolt that is used is deliberately a little smaller than the hole that needs to be generated. Tot bolt will melt the hole a little bit bigger than it is when it pokes through the plastic bottle. Yay need to insert the bolt a second time into the hole and let it touch the sides to expand theameter of the hole. Some times little chunks of plastic stick to the side of the hole. Use a sh

nife to clean up the edges and insert a grommet. Check the fit of the vinyl tubing through theommet. It should be very snug and air tight, but it should not collapse the inner diameter of bing very much.

onnect a piece of tubing from the humidifier to the first coke bottle. Flute both ends of eachece of vinyl tubing. Connect the this coke bottle to the next. Do this until you have all four coottles connected. The picture shows 3 coke bottles because that is what is normally requiredut for now connect in all 4. Now connect the last coke bottle to the terrarium. You will need toke a hole in the side and insert the tubing. The tubing should be blowing humid air into theart of the terrarium that is above the drip shield. It should be setup as follows:

hecking out the Ultra Sonic Humidifier Setup:



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ll the humidifier with water and position the various stages of the coke bottles between theumidifier and terrarium. At no place should the vinyl tubing have a low spot for condensationrm and plug up the line. Condensation will form in the lines but it should run to the end and armlessly out of the line.

et the humidity level at the minimum setting. This is still more than you should need. Adapta

9 After you give it time to stabilize, you should see that each stage of the coke bottles has leg in it than the preceding stage. Usually, 3 bottles is the right amount, but depending on youumidifier and ambient humidity, it could be more or less. You want the last coke bottle to jusave the slightest hint of fog in it. Add or delete stages as necessary.

he humidity in the terrarium should stabilize at about 90%. The ideal amount of humidity is auch as you can get without moisture forming on the rice cakes. Keep in mind that mostumidity meters you get at department stores are not very accurate.


The Growing Cycle.

his section is relatively short considering its topic. That is because when you get to this poinou are only needed to make sure the fungus has the right conditions to thrive.

nce you place a fully colonized rice cake in the terrarium it just needs several things to growushrooms. It needs high humidity, temperatures below 85 degrees F. and a little light. Oncee mycelium network has gained access to enough nutrients the cake can initiate mushroom

onditions are right. The initiation of mushrooms requires some light and temperatures in the upper 70's F. The mushrooms can grow at higher temperatures, and in fact grow faster at

gher temperatures. But the fact remains that the temperature range is fairly narrow to start n

ushrooms. Normally, it takes about a week for pin heads to form if the rice cake was removom the culture jar as soon as it was 100% colonized. It can happen after just a couple days e mycelium network is well established, or it can take several weeks if things aren't just perfr the cake.

you keep the terrarium's temperature in the mid to upper 70's F. you will be constantly initiaew mushrooms (pin heads) while providing a good environment for the growing mushrooms ature. This is the simplest way to grow if you can arrange for this to be the case. Adaptation



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you deviate outside of this temperature range, you will still get a few mushrooms, but thengus will initiate new pin heads only occasionally. You will spend a lot of time waiting for aushroom to form.

he rice cakes need a small amount of light to initiate pin heads. Mushrooms are not plants ao not need light to grow. However, P. cubensis is a phototropic mushroom. This means it neht to trigger a hormonal response in order to form mushrooms. If you can see the rice cake

ere is enough light for this to happen. Many mycologists believe the reason light is importane growing cycle is because it provides a reliable clue to the mycelium that it has reached theoundary of the substrate in which it is growing. In nature, P. cubensis often lives in a pile of canure. Once it has grown through the entire substrate and reaches the edge, light hits it andovides the mycelium with the information that if it forms a mushroom there, it can release

pores into the air for distribution. It is not productive to form a mushroom inside the substrateecause the spores can not be distributed in that case. Any normal spectrum of light that youave available will work. Sun light, fluorescent or incandescent are all fine and will work. A fewinutes of light a day is sufficient but an hour or two will guarantee that pin heads form if

verything else (temperature, humidity, the mycelium network is well established, etc.) is righe careful not to heat your terrarium too much if you use artificial light near the terrarium.

he rice cakes will have a very bright white appearance when they are first placed in therrarium. Soon, they will be coated with a thin layer of fluffy mycelium. If the cakes refuse to ut continue to form more and more fluffy mycelium this is an indication that the humidity is togh and needs to be adjusted downward. For people using a humidifier in their terrarium setuis is the single biggest cause of failure assuming they get the rice cakes colonized

uccessfully.

hen pin heads form, they will look like a short section of a common pin. Hence, the name. Tnd of these pin heads will soon grow dark brown. This is the cap beginning to form. When thce cakes are fresh, the small mushrooms will start adding bulk rather than grow longer. Theyll form balls the size of a marble. Then, they will start to thin out and grow long, adding bulkhole time.

the mushrooms have mycelium growing on the caps, it is an indication that your humidity isw in the terrarium. In this case, you have just enough humidity to allow the cakes to fruit, bu

ou are right on the edge of failure.

ou should avoid the temptation to grow the mushrooms as large as possible. Significantly msilocybin is produced during the early periods of growth. By letting the mushroom grow toorge you are simply consuming nutrients and moisture from the rice cake for no purpose. Alse mushrooms taste increasingly bad as they get larger. Lastly, the mycelium network in the

ake can only provide so much in the way of nutrients and water to maturing mushrooms. If yt the mushrooms grow too big, they will hurt the development of other mushrooms on the cahe mushrooms should be picked just as the veil underneath the cap is starting to tear away



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om the stalk.

n the average, you should expect to get between 4 and 6 average size mushrooms per 1/2 ake. On the average you should expect each cake to produce 1 mushroom a week but thisumber can vary in either direction greatly.

s the cakes get older, they will produce less and less and it will be more difficult for the

ushrooms to grow. Adaptation-17This is a result of the moisture in the cake being consumey the earlier mushrooms. You will eventually see mushrooms form and start to grow but neveulk up during the initial phase of development. These mushrooms will seldom get big enoughevelop caps. You can harvest these mushrooms but it is an indication that the rice cake isbout exhausted.


Drying and Preservation

of the Mushrooms

nce you have grown and harvested some mushrooms, you need to think about preservingem. They will only keep for a short time in their fresh state. Sometimes a single mushroomeeds to be harvested and it isn't enough for a dose. Other times, too many mushrooms will blly grown for a single dose. Either way, you will be in a situation where you want to preserveem for later. And, even if this didn't happen, you may find your self in a situation where youmply don't have the time or inclination to trip. The good news is that if they are dried correctearly all of the psycho-active compounds can be preserved for many months.

here are several ways to dry them, but we will only cover the best way. What ever you do, dse heat to dry them. Heat is very harmful to the psycho-active compounds. You will drasticaduce the mushroom's potency if you use heat to dry them.

aterials needed:

q 1/4 inch wire meshq old wash cloth or ragq carton of Damp-Rid or Damp-be-Gone (Anhydrous calcium chloride)



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q Medium or Large size Tupperware bowl with sealing lid

everal pounds of calcium chloride can be purchased for a couple of dollars at any large buildupply outlet. It will usually be found in the paint department because it is used to dry the air iusty closets before painting and things like that. If possible, get the bulk refill containers. It w

e cheaper than the calcium chloride that comes with the units to hold it and the moisture pulom the air. You won't be using the unit, so don't buy it unless you have to.

he drying chamber needs to have a space at the bottom for water to collect. This allows thealcium chloride to function well for extended periods of time. As it pulls moisture from the airips to the bottom of the chamber. The calcium chloride is held above the water by a circular

ection of the 1/4 inch wire mesh with a wash cloth spread out on it. See the following diagramr details. The wash cloth keeps the calcium chloride from falling through the wire mesh but aater that forms can drip through it to the bottom of the chamber.

he calcium chloride should be spread out evenly. If you use too large of a Tupperware bowl,ou may have to add some structural strength to the screen in order for it to support the calcihloride. You can simply lay a stick or ruler underneath the mesh and use tie wraps to securee mesh to it.

ut another circular section of mesh so that it fits above the calcium chloride and leaves a nicr gap. The mushrooms will be placed on this mesh in order to dry them. Make sure the calchloride is not touching the bottom of this screen. There should be an air gap between the tope desiccant and the bottom of the screen. You do not want your mushrooms to touch the

alcium chloride while they are drying because some of it will dissolve into the mushroom if thappens.

hat is the entire preparation for preserving your mushrooms with minimal loss of potency. In



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der to dry your mushrooms, simply harvest them and place them on the wire screen. Closeupperware container so it is air tight. The mushrooms will shrink and shrivel over the nextouple of days. After about three days, they will be fairly hard and contain very little moisture.ou are not pushed for space inside the drying chamber, you may was well leave them there ve or six days to thoroughly dry them.

ter the mushrooms have been in the drying chamber for three days, they can be moved to a

p-lock bag for long term storage. Remember that the dryer the mushrooms are, the longer tll keep. Adaptation-18

he reason this system works so well to dry the mushrooms is the calcium chloride is a goodesiccant. It has a very strong affinity for moisture and can pull almost all the moisture out of r. Eventually however, liquid will start to collect in the bottom of the drying chamber.ushrooms are 92% water by weight. This moisture has to go somewhere when the mushrooe dried, and it will eventually find its way to the bottom of the container.

hen moisture starts to collect in the drying chamber you can simply drain it out and continuese the old desiccant. The chamber will continue to work as long as there is sufficient calciumhloride in it. You should be careful not to contaminate the sides of the container or the topcreen with residue from the desiccant. You do not want your mushrooms to touch the residuor one thing, it tastes terrible, but in addition to this, the mushrooms will not dry completely. sidue will attract moisture. Whenever you empty the moisture, it is best to wash the

upperware container completely.


Dosage and Various.

Ways to Ingest.

rst, we need to make sure some thing is understood. Before you dose, you need to be somene that likes your self and feels pretty secure about your self. You should not have any majooubles in your life. If this does not describe you, don't dose! Go find some other drug to playth.

K, you've decided that your going to dose. After all, why did you grow these little devils if yo



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eren't going to trip? The most important question to answer is how hard do you want to trip?170 pound person had never done alcohol before, this is the advise I would give him. Dosa

ould be anywhere from 1 beer to 12 beers. 1 beer is just enough that you might feel somethiut everything will be pretty normal. 4 beers is enough you will have a strong sensation of whcohol does, but you will be in complete control. At 6 beers, you will start to be drunk. At 12eers, you are pig drunk and may pass out. I would recommend 4 beers the first time out. Thould give you a good feeling for what alcohol is about, but still keep you out of trouble.

hese mushrooms will be fairly consistent in potency. They are all grown on the same mediumnder the same circumstances. If you take 4 average P. cubensis mushrooms, that will put yothe same relative spot on the spectrum as 4 beers. But remember that psilocybin is more

owerful than alcohol. What you experience will be more intense than 4 beers. However, on tpectrum of what is possible, you will still be on the low side. What are average sizeushrooms? Mushrooms are like snowflakes. No two are the same. I would call a mushroomat has a stalk 3 inches long and a cap 1 inch in diameter average.

rying the mushrooms as described in this document will have minimal impact on their potencany sources claim that dried mushrooms are significantly less potent that fresh ones. If youse the method to dry the mushrooms described in this document, you'll find that claim is notue. It's your choice whether to eat them fresh or in their dry state. Some people have strongelings one way or the other because of their taste. Most people agree that these mushroomll never win any culinary awards. Try some each way. Find out if one way or the other is ber you.

ome people find that these mushrooms cause some nausea. [email protected]

ggests the use of digestive aids available over the counter at any pharmacy. This will makeonsumption of the mushrooms a lot easier on you if you are susceptible to nausea. Also noteat most people should avoid consumption of alcohol while using these mushrooms. When thushrooms are mixed with alcohol, even people with cast iron stomachs can loose their lunch

you find the taste of these mushrooms particularly distasteful, you can always bury them in urrito or peanut butter sandwich. If you do this, it will slow the onset of the effects some whaome people just chew them up and wash them down with orange juice.

ome people dislike the taste so much, they are willing to go to extraordinary measures tosguise the taste. Several popular recipes follow. With the exception of the first recipe, thesecipes all suffer from a common problem. They use heat. Heat will cause some of the psilocybreak down and as a result you will need to use more mushrooms for the same effect than

ou had ingested them directly. This fact in and of itself is not too big of a deal. After all, you cow as many mushrooms as you need. A 25% to 50% loss of efficiency is not ideal, but it ma

e worth it to some people in order to avoid the nasty taste of these mushrooms. The realoblem is it is impossible to predict how strong the effect is going to be. It depends on how h

ou heat them when you do the preparation and how long they are hot. Use caution!



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Mushroom Juice

ut several spoonfuls of frozen juice concentrate into a blender. Dole's Orange-Pineapple-anana works especially well but regular Orange Juice or Lemon Aid will work. Add a bit ofater, but keep the resulting juice on the strong side. Throw in a few ice cubes and yourhrooms (fresh or dry) and whiz on high for a minute or so. Let it sit for a few minutes after yorn off the blender, then drink.

500 mg vitamin C capsule can be added and will make the juice more tart which is beneficiaasking the mushroom taste.

Mushroom Tea

ake the fresh mushrooms (6-7 per person depending on size of caps) and cut the caps andems into very small pieces. Place mushroom pieces into medium sized pot 3/4 filled with wa

oil the water along with the mushrooms. Boil for ten minutes. Remove from the heat and letool for 10 more minutes. Strain mushrooms with a coffee filter, or paper towel. At this point, ou truly desire tea, a mint flavored version works well. Otherwise, kool-aid is an option. Grapool-aid mixed stronger than usual will definitely cover the taste. Serve with ice to chill the kood to the desired temperature.

Mushroom Soup

sing Ramen Pride or any other dried noodle soup, follow directions on package, except put

nd cleaned mushroom pieces in the broth. Prepare as usual. If the mushroom pieces are smey are relatively unnoticeable.

Mushroom Pizza

ook your favorite frozen pizza according to directions. Several minutes before the pizza is dooking, add finely sliced fresh mushroom pieces to the pizza. Optionally, you can add someated cheese on top of the newly added mushroom pieces. Adding cheese will help

ncapsulate the mushroom pieces and dramatically help mask the taste. Place pizza back in

ven and cook until done.

bviously, some of the people that grow these mushrooms are going to be looking for a 'mindelting' experience. Bad trips on mushrooms are rare, but they do happen. One of the most

ommon reasons for bad trips on mushrooms is taking a high dose of mushrooms that haveown on cakes that also have contamination growing. Toxins get absorbed by the mushroomowing on these contaminated cakes and as the dosage gets higher it starts to become an



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sue. Care should always be taken to avoid contamination but if you plan to dose on the highde, it is absolutely mandatory. Think about it. How fun would it be to have a nasty allergicaction to some toxin while tripping hard. The email I've received on the subject suggests it is

ot very pleasant. Throw out any cake that is contaminated and any mushrooms that wereown on that cake even prior to when the contamination was noticed.

ne final note. If you ever find that you have dosed too heavily, just remember that 90 minute

ter ingestion will be the peak experience. Things will start to settle down after that. The gooews is that medically you can't overdose on psilocybin. If you remember these things, andelieve them, they can help ease you through a high dose experience.


How to Get a Spore Syringe.

his section is ordered for some one just starting off in the home cultivating experience. Onceou have grown a crop, this section is ordered backwards for your needs. The intent is to get arted easily. In order to grow subsequent generations of fungus you need to generate a spoint and use this to create a spore syringe. This information is at the tail end of this section.

order to use the process detailed in this document, you need a sterile, viable spore syringehe spores should be Psilocybe Cubensis spores. Preferably, they should be of the Amazonirain. The Amazonian strain has wider parameters for fruiting and is more tolerant of mistakeowever, any Psilocybe Cubensis strain will work. There are several ways to get started. Theasiest way to get started is to order a spore syringe but alternatively, you could obtain a spoint and use that to prepare a spore syringe.

nce you have grown some mushrooms, it is worth while to learn how to generate your ownpore prints so that you can produce spore syringes when ever you need one. Currently, youon't have to do this if you choose not to because the spores are still readily available from mder suppliers. Many people believe the day is coming when this will not be true. Many of the

ources of psilocybe spores have quit selling to the public and others have destroyed theirultures because of mandates given by the DEA. If you have a sterile, viable spore print, you minate your dependence on these suppliers.



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Sources for a Spore Syringe

(Check all sources for current address and prices before ordering)

Note: The following information about Spore Syringes is very out of date. The listedusinesses may no longer sell spores, prices may have changed, ownership/managem

ay have changed. Psylocybe Fanaticus is no longer in business. Verify everythingefore acting on any of the information in this section. ]

urrently the most cost effective place for a United States resident to order a spore syringe isom the company that pioneered many of the concepts in this document. They have a very farn around time and are very reliable. Their spore syringes are $10.00 (US) and that include

hipping. They are very high quality. They currently supply P. cubensis Matias Romero. This ubstrain of the Amazonian strain.

you are outside the United States, there is a $10.00 shipping charge. All their packages arehipped in a discrete manner. However, be aware that outside the US, a customs sticker withescription "mushroom spores in blunt-tipped pipette" is stuck on the box.

you wish to minimize the paper trail, you can send cash to Psylocybe Fanaticus. They aretally reliable and you will get what you order. Psylocybe Fanaticus advertises that they do n

eep customer files and by sending cash, you can distance your self from any records of theansaction.

you learned about Psylocybe Fanaticus here on the Web, please mention it when you orderurrently, Psylocybe Fanaticus doesn't believe much business comes their way because of thet. We would like for that to change.

Europe, there is a very cost effective spore seller, Smart Botanics. They also sell dried

ushrooms if your country will allow them to be imported. They only charge $8.00 for a sporeyringe and $3.00 for shipping. You can place an order through the mail or directly from their

eb page.

so of interest is the fact that this supplier can provide you with either the standard strain ofsilocybe cubensis spores or 'Gulf Stream' Psilocybe cubensis spores. The 'Gulf Stream' straslightly more tolerant of heat and fruits a little easier in warmer temperatures. The standardrain is more appropriate for cooler climates. Simply specify which one you prefer when youace your order.

heck, Diners Card and American Express are accepted.

http://www.smartbotanics.nl/http://www.smartbotanics.nl/


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Smart BotanicsP.O. Box 158, 2800 AD Gouda

The Netherlands.

Canada there is a company called Hemp Nation. They are reliable and ship promptly. Theyell suitable spore syringes (Psilocybe Cubensis Amazonian strain) for $20 (US). There is a

5.00 shipping charge within North America. I used to say the main reason you would want toder from this company is they are in Canada. If you're in Canada, your order will not have torough customs. There is another reason you might want to order from this supplier. This

ompany is the focus of a Constitutional Challenge to legalize hemp in Canada. The profits frour purchase will assist this.

Christopher Clay, ProprietorHemp Nation Headquarters

343 Richmond St.Suite #101

London, Ontario Canada N6A 3C2

Phone: (519) 433-5267Fax 433-7725

E-mail: [email protected]://pobox.com/~hemp

so in Canada, there is a company called Hemp-BC. They are reliable and ship promptly. Thell suitable spore syringes for $30 Canadian. U.S. currency is accepted. There is a $5.00hipping charge within North America. If you're in Canada, your order will not have to go throuustoms.

Hemp BC324 West Hastings, Vancouver BC

ph (604) 681-4620fax (604) 681-4604

n the net they have a site: WWW.HEMPBC.COM

http://www.hempnation.com/http://www.hempbc.com/http://www.hempbc.com/http://www.hempnation.com/


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Sources for Spore Prints

the event you wish to start with a spore print instead of a spore syringe, this section providw places you can obtain suitable spore prints. In general, the first time grower really ought t

art with a spore syringe because it eliminates many of the sterility issues. The one benefit toarting with a spore print is you can make close to fifty 10 cc. spore syringes from a single spint. However, this is really a moot point. Once you have grown a crop of mushrooms, you ca

enerate as many spore prints as you want. One spore syringe is guaranteed to produce a cryou follow the directions in this guide.

ostly, this section is included just for completeness. In the event you can not obtain a sporeyringe for some reason, you can get a spore print and use that to make a spore syringe.

he following information was pilfered from the mushroom FAQ on Hyper-Real.

omestead Books P. cubensis spores ($25), kits ($70), an

O. Box 31608 books/videos about growing.

eattle, WA 98103 (Phone: +1-206-782-4532)

acific Exotic Spora Panaeolus cyanescens and Coplandia

yanescens

O. box 11611 spores. Very expensive, $40-$75.

onolulu, HI 96828

he Shroom King Str. cubensis print and a book for $25,bove

O. Box 17444 above plus compost and agar for $35.

eattle, WA 98107 (Phone: +1-206-784-9328)

YZYGY $15 + $1 (S&H) for a Str. cubensis print

O. Box 619 on a slide.

onaunau, HI 96726

L.F. Supposedly sells some rare species ready

O. Box 184-SC to and lotsa weird stuff. Free catalog

lizabethtown, IN 47232 (Phone: +1-812-379-2508)

How to Make a Spore Syringe

erility is key. If your spore print is contaminated or you introduce contamination into the spo



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yringe, you will have difficulty later in the process. Ideally, there should be no fans blowing oafts of air. You should clean the area where you will be working carefully and make sure tha

verything is tidy.

aterials needed:

q spore printq 10 cc. syringe with long needle Where to findq shot glassq regular glassq coffee mugq cigarette lighterq X-Acto knife or sharp steak knifeq microwave oven

everal things need to be accomplished. First, we need to sterilize a shot glass to easily mix

pore solution and we need to sterilize a syringe to hold the solution. We also need some steater in which to suspend the spores. The following procedure will accomplish all of this.

ll a coffee mug with water and place a shot glass inside the coffee mug. Make sure the shotass is completely submerged. Place the coffee mug in the microwave oven and get the watea full boil for 10 minutes. It does not need to be a violent boil. Adjust the heat level of thecrowave oven to keep too much water from being lost if necessary.

emove the shot glass and empty the excess water out of the shot glass. Place another glas

ver the shot glass. This will keep air born contaminates from settling in the shot glass while yait for the shot glass and water in the spore syringe to cool.

ll the syringe with hot water from the mug. Eject the hot water and repeat several times. Thill insure the inside of the syringe and the needle are clean and sterile. This is especially

mportant if you are using a syringe from a previous crop. When the needle is inserted into theubstrate, it is possible to get nutrients up inside the needle and for contamination to grow. Thst time you fill the syringe with hot water, do not purge it. Let it sit in the syringe until it is coohis is useful for two reasons. First, the continued heat from the water can still work to elimina

ny remaining contaminates. Secondly, once the water is cool it can be used as the sterile waeeded to fill the syringe. Make certain that nothing touches the needle of the syringe.

he Psilocybe mushroom spores will be killed if they come in contact with anything too hot. Yeed to wait until the shot glass and spore syringe are at room temperature. When it is safe tooceed, use the cigarette lighter to flame sterilize the X-Acto knife and the needle of the

yringe. Let the blade of the knife cool, but make sure it does not touch anything. When it is carefully open the spore print and scrape a fleck of spores into the shot glass. A fleck 1/4 inch4 inch is more than sufficient for a 10 cc. spore syringe. Use the needle of the syringe to sti



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e spores into a few drops of water. Usually, there will be a few drops left over in the shot glaom when you emptied it. Otherwise, you can get the drops from the syringe. Stir the fleck ofpores until they are well broken up and 'dissolved' into the water. Purge the water out of theyringe into the shot glass. Pull the water back into the syringe, being sure to suck the sporesso. Do this once or twice more to make sure the spores are well mixed in the spore syringeften, it takes several tries to get the spores fully broken apart and well mixed.

the spores in the print have been dried and are not fresh, it is best to wait six hours to use tpore syringe. The spores need to rehydrate. If your in a hurry, the spores can still rehydrate e culture jars.

How to Make a Spore Print

nce you have a mature mushroom, you are in a position to make a spore print and use it toontinue cultivation of mushrooms. The cap should be harvested when the mushroom cap haecome flat or is starting to invert.

erility is key. Adaptation-25 Be careful not to do anything that will compromise the sterility o

our spore print. The typical procedure is to cut the stalk off of a mature mushroom very closee cap. A sterilized knife or razor blade is used to do this. The cap is then laid on a sterile pietissue paper or card stock and a small glass set over it. The glass is needed for two reason

rst, it keeps the spore print insulated from airborne contaminates. Secondly, it helps keep thumidity high so the mushroom cap can continue to live and drop its spores. One note ofaution. Some humidity usually needs to be allowed to escape. You want the environment inse glass to be slightly less humid than the environment in which the mushroom was grown. If

ou have problems getting a cap to drop its spores, try using a piece of paper for the print thas entirely inside the glass and spreading out a wash cloth flat on the table. Let the edge of tass seal to the wash cloth instead of the paper. This will usually allow enough humidity toscape to cause the cap to drop spores.

everything goes well, after a day or two the cap will drop its spores. Adaptation-26 There we a purple-brown dust underneath the cap. These are the spores.



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ye glass lens paper is good source of sterile tissue paper. A box of waxy tissue paper that dse to pick up donuts and rolls is another excellent source of sterile tissue paper. Card stockuch as a recipe card) is a bit easier to use later when you want to prepare a spore syringe,

ou have to expend the extra effort up front to sterilize it. To use card stock, place in a 425egree F. oven for 15 minutes. Let it cool with a glass over it before you place the cap on it.

nce you have a spore print on the paper, remove the glass and cap. Fold the spore print in nd seal the edges so air can not get in. A piece of scotch tape on each side will do nicely. Th

pores will stay viable for 18 months if they are kept in a cool, dry and dark spot. If you place mall amount of desiccant in the bottom of a film container and place a cotton ball on top of thesiccant, you have an ideal container to keep the spore print. The cotton ball will keep theesiccant from touching the spore print. Seal the spore print in the canister and place theanister in your refrigerator until you are ready to use it.

ote that if you want to be self sufficient, it is a good idea to have multiple spore prints and stem separately. You just never know when you are going to be surprised with a massive

ontamination problem or thermal death. The safest thing to do is have a couple viable spore

ints so it is easier to recover from disaster. A spore print is typically viable for about a year istored in a cool, dark location. As a print ages, germination gets slower and this process

ecomes more prone to contamination.

Combination of Spore Print and Preparation of Inoculant

his excellent idea is from: [email protected]

t is your intent to use a mushroom to immediately generate inoculant for a successive cropou can eliminate some of the above steps and reduce the risk of contamination.

oke a small nail hole in the cap of a wide mouth jar. Cover the nail hole with a piece ofectrical tape. A 1/2 pint canning jar similar to that used for the cultures is fine. Sterilize both r and the lid.



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ace the harvested cap in the sterilized, wide mouth jar. Seal the top with the lid and wait unpore print has been generated on the bottom of the glass. Open the jar and remove theushroom cap. Add 3/4 cup of sterilized water. Seal the top of the jar with the lid and shake tr. The spores need to be mixed well into the water. This procedure elements the need toansfer spores from a print to some container to make the solution. The spore print is generaside the container and the only extra step is adding water. It also has the benefit of making

rge amount of solution that is easy to use.

ow, any time you need inoculant, you can shake the jar and peel the tape back to expose thail hole in the lid. Simply insert the needle of the syringe into the inoculant and pull some intoe syringe. The syringe needs to be sterile or you risk contaminating the entire jar of solutionhe solution will keep longer if you refrigerate it. You still should keep some spore prints onaper because it is possible to contaminate the entire jar of inoculant if you make a mistake.


The Author's First Trip

K, some of you experienced druggies are going to get a chuckle from this. This is a descript

my first trip. I grew up in a real conservative environment. I always wanted to hallucinate buas real scared of LSD. After all, it causes chromosome damage and a lot of the people that n it either jump out of windows or end up in a permanent psychosis. Some of the lucky onesat make it through the trip ok suffer from uncontrollable flash backs for the rest of their life.retty scary stuff.

never was around people that used psychedelics much. The few times I had the opportunityas unable to find out enough about the source and quality to put my ignorant self at ease. Iteemed like I was never going to get to have a psychedelic experience.

ell, I was surfing the net one day and decided to test the reach of information contained on as trying one exotic topic after another in Yahoo. I was amazed at the knowledge containede net. I decided to push it to the limit. I asked about psilocybin. To my amazement, a fewdexes to documents came back. I quickly down loaded them and started studying them. I wstonished to find out that the spores for Psilocybe mushrooms could be mail ordered because spores did not contain any controlled substances. And best of all, there was no overdose silocybin.



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doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what I was thinking! The net contained bits andeces of information. I was able to learn some of the basic concepts for growing shrooms butere was a lot of uncertainty and contradictions in the information I had. I kept increasing theepths of my searches on the topics. It eventually became obvious that my best chance ofccess lay with Psylocybe Fanaticus' method. I promptly ordered their Tek Notes and a sporringe.

ollowed their directions and had cultures well under way soon enough. But, I was frustratedth their humidification techniques. They did not work for me even though I experimented likazy. My job involves doing research and development at a high technology computer

ompany. I was determined to solve the problem and make it easy for others with access to tet to succeed. I found a few people on the alt.drugs news group that had vast mushroomowing experience and they helped me with advice that got me over some of my initialoblems.

was going home in a few months on vacation to visit old buddies. I told them I thought I was

oing to be able to bring some shrooms so we could all trip together. They freaked with joy. Iave a basic personality flaw. Anything worth doing, is worth doing to excess. I didn't know hoany shrooms I would need so I figured I had better grow a couple pounds. I worked out theoblems I was having and simultaneously ramped production. I had a couple pounds of driedushrooms by the time I headed north on vacation.

e were at a friends cabin on the lake when the time was right. I broke out my stash of shroos we prepared to go out on the lake fishing. Of course I offered some advice about what Iought was a reasonable first dose, but then I made the mistake of trying to comfort them wit

e information that it was impossible to overdose on psilocybe mushrooms. My friends have ame basic personality flaw about doing things to excess as I do, except worse. The closest Ian figure, I ate about an eighth of a cup of crushed, dried shrooms and they all ate about twiat. My first dose was significantly higher than the Dosage section of this documentcommends. Just because I got away with it, doesn't make it a smart thing to do!

eing the scientific type, I grabbed my camcorder just in case we needed to document anythind we headed to the boat to go fishing. The first 25 minutes seemed pretty normal, but then arted to feel myself coming on. I had done enough research to know that the peak experienas a good hour away. I kept fishing. Soon I had to put down my fishing pole and just watch muddies. I just had way too much stuff going on to be holding my fishing pole.

had heard that the most basic visual experience was how colors became vibrant while trippinkept looking for this, but never noticed it. I was wondering if we dosed high enough or if I haone to all the trouble to grow these damn things and eat those awful tasting shrooms forothing. I started to feel a little down. I just stared at the seat where one of my buddies wastting.


[psilocybin]the magic mushroom growers guide-erowid psilocybin mushroom vaults 3.2 org

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